Daily Pics 95

Nice pics wallaby! They certainly are a handsome bird!

Great pics everyone!

Thanks pelle.

Then to the bird table, and last jump to the nest which is in a hollow in the Honeysuckle on the next neighbour's old shed wall. I hope the neighbour doesn't try cutting it back, she thinks she has to cut back everything when it's in full growth! Must have a word with her.

Here he is flying off.

Earlier in the day he was 'worming' in the neighbour's back garden on the grass. He stands and listens then pounces.

Caught!

Diving in..lol, no wonder they have such strong looking beaks, it must go all the way in the ground!

OK, so this time I only got grass.

I'm guessing Royal Tern?

GREAT pictures everyone. My computer has been out of commission for a few days; so I've got some major catching up to do.

Until yesterday, I never realized how aggressive swans can be. I was at a park and saw a swan attack a goose. For a moment, I thought I might have to jump in the pond and rescue the goose.

A small bar-headed goose was just swimming around, minding its own business, when a mute swan approached it.

Next, the swan swam on top of the goose. (You can barely see the goose's head here.)

And then, the swan pushed the goose's head under water and held it there with its beak. This was no accident … I honestly think the swan was trying to drown the goose.

In the end, the goose got free and fled for its life.

Spring is finally here and the hummer are starting to return. This little black-chinned hummer has been flitting around my feeder for a few days. I finally got a picture of him this morning.

(Edited to correct typos)

This message was edited Apr 18, 2008 10:31 AM

You know Jane, I had heard that in the Chicago suburban area, Swans were put on some of these corporate ponds to keep the canada geese population down. But every time I pass a pond with them, I still see the geese there along with the swans.

"Found a peanut!"

My cactus wren are crazy about peanuts.

Do any of you need some white-winged doves. These guys are eating me out of house and home ... not to mention pooping all over my car.

I've have a few white-crowned sparrows around all year; but the past few weeks, I've had a dozens of them.

This spotted towhee showed up at my feeder yesterday. It's the first one I've seen in my yard; so I hope he'll stick around.

This one's a zoo picture from a few weeks ago; but I thought this hooded crane was just beautiful.

pelle says time to move on. #96 at..............

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/836159/

Jane - That's how they mate! :)

Resin & Sybil ... Thanks for the info on how swans deal with the "birds & bees" thing. Boy, am I embarrased ... I really thought the swan was trying to drown the goose.

Jane

Hate to keep this thread going, but after laughing at what Resin wrote all evening, (I didn't even think of that, and I see it all the time)

I have to say I have seen Swans attack geese and hurt them, bite them, hit them with his wings, and even kill one goose. The male swan is very agressive esp if the swans have little ones.

The male will run off anything around his kids. I saw him attacking a group of geese that had goslings. The one male goose used himself as a decoy to lure the big mean swan away from the kids.
The momma goose got the little ones up on shore and hid them in a bush. It was a while before the male goose was able to get away from the swan and come back.
That was one time I thought the swan was getting a little too crazy.

The odd thing is that the goose was soliciting (can tell by the way it has its head stretched out low and the wings slightly spread, so it wasn't even a case of rape by the swan. That goose must've been desparate!

Resin

Perhaps poor goose had recently lost her mate? Or she's a first year breeder?

Or she's just a silly goose...

The goose probably is a first year breeder. There are about a dozen bar geese at the park and just the one male swan. I'll have to keep a lookout for the offspring. They should be pretty interesting looking; but what the heck should I call them? Swan-Geese! lol

DH said I can call the babies sweese

This message was edited Apr 19, 2008 9:32 PM

That's probably better than gooswan. ;-)

Hate to keep this thread going, but the sweese thing is so interesting. When the grizzlies and polar bears began to overlap each other's territories they started mating - don't know what the offspring are called. Maybe that's happening with the water fowl? Or were they always sharing the same area?

Both Bar-headed Goose and Mute Swan are introduced alien species in NM. Very commonly, introduced birds were raised by humans in the first place, so have a strong identity crisis and don't know what they are. So neither do they know who they should be mating with.

Resin